If I hadn't been there to witness this myself I wouldn't have
believed it. The other night Hip Hop's newest sensation Eminem
aka Slim Shady set it off at San Francisco's Fillmore Nite Club.
No, I don't mean he set it off by doing a terrific show which
showcased his clever lyrics and awesome rhyme skills.

What Slim Shady did do, was live up to all the speculation about
him being a marketing tool for a music industry that is bent on finding
a white rap sensation who can appeal to its large white fan base.
He lived up to all the speculation that white rappers, in spite of being
minorities in a predominantly black field, can be granted
unprecedented privileges. Slim lived up to the speculation that he's
more of a gimmick as opposed to a dope emcee.

When it was announced that Slim Shady was coming to town,
I, along with a couple of thousand other folks, descended onto the
Fillmore Nite Club in SF. The show was sold out and radio stations
that never even played rap were scrambling to get tickets and free
passes for their listeners. The audience was mostly male and
about 90% white with more then a few kids sporting Slim's
trademark short cropped blonde hair. The opening acts Pacewon
and The Beatnuts set off a really cool vibe with their performances.
Veteran rap star Greg Nice of Nice N Smooth showed up as a surprise guest and took things over the top with his stellar performance.
All sorts of hip hop headz were in attendance including members
of the Invisible Skratch Piklz, the guys from http://www.Hip-Hop.com
and Bay Area rap sensation Rasco, to name a few. Also in the place,
eager to peep out the show was The godfather of funk, George Clinton.
The stage was set for Slim Shady to turn it out.

Before Slim Shady took the stage, his hype man a brotha
named MC Proof got on stage and talk to the crowd. He asked that
everyone come out and have a good time. He then attempted to clear
the air about Slim's whiteness. He noted that Slim grew up with him
on Detroit's rough Eastside and that Slim was for real.. When Slim
hit the stage the audience went nuts.

During the show, Slim stopped the music and asked the audience
to put a lighter in the air. Some kid from the audience yelled F*&k You!'
The next thing I know, Slim begins to argue with this kid in the audience.
He dares him to come on stage. His crew tries to calm him down.
Slim then asks the security to come and remove the kid from
the audience.

MC Proof, Slim's side-kick then gets the audience hyped by
telling them to boo the kid. He then explains that if he wants to, he
could have the entire audience turn on homeboy and beat him down.
"We roll with an army" he shouts into the mic. The kid in the audience
is un-phazed. He remains in his place glaring at Slim Shady. Instead
of moving on with the show, Shady exchanges some more words and
the next thing you know he jumps off the stage and starts going after
the kid. An all out brawl takes place as Shady's body guards jump off
and start beating the crap out of some kid. Ironically it's not the guy
that Shady was pissed at. The houselights are turned on as more
fighting breaks out. People scramble to get out the way as house
security rushes on to the floor and grab Slim Shady. He's ushered
up his dressing room. The concert is shut down. People start to leave
in disbelief of what took place. As people are filing out, Shady rushes
back out on stage and grabs the mic and attempts to finish the show.
He does about 3 more songs and makes reference on several
occasions to the guy who they beat down.

I was left completely puzzled as to how and why Slim Shady was
able to get away with what I just witnessed. How in the world could
this guy can come to the Bay Area and pull that sort of nonsense?
To this day, there are numerous local rappers who can not do shows
here in the Bay Area because of fights that occurred at their concerts.
Venues fearing repeat incidents have not allowed them to play and
this comes years after an unfortunate incident. What sort of penalties
will be levied against Slim Shady? Will they be just as severe as the
sanctions placed on local acts?

Scores of rappers can't perform in venues because of hip hop's
negative stigma, They have to pay outrageous insurance rates, and
get a ton of security for the privilege of doing concerts. Radio stations
won't play a lot of rappers because of this negative stigma. But I betcha
Slim Shady will continue to get air play in spite of that little incident.

So what's this all about? How can this happen? Is Slim Shady
a culture stealer? Yes most definitely. Not because he's white, but
because he got on stage and claimed to be down for hip hop and
then jump set off a big ruckus because some kid flipped him off.. Even
worse, he lip-synched and we all know that certainly ain't hip hop. And
to top it off Slim Shady had the nerve to say "Peace" when he left the
stage. I guess being Slim Shady in America definitely has
it's privileges.. what do you think?

Send comments, questions and concerns to mailto:kingdave@sirius.com
The FNV Newsletter
written by Davey D
c1999
All Rights Reserved